Re: Do reviewers get honey barrels?

On behalf both of distillers and reviewers, I would paraphrase what the president of Coke said after the New Coke debacle. we are neither that stupid nor that clever.

This is an interesting study in conspiracy theories, why they happen, and why some people believe them, but it has nothing pertinent to do with bourbon, producers, reviews or reviewers.

Consider this. Only one person in this discussion has tested this theory. Me. My conclusion is that it's false. The rest is either cognitive dissonance or flaming.

Originally Posted by White Dog

It was only a matter of time before a certain writer told us we were all full of shit.

Honestly? Who better to voice a contrary opinion, than Cowdery? We KNOW he drinks weller and vw products on a regular basis, and we KNOW that he likes them. So when he says (and he HAS said this) "the current Lot B is much tastier than it was several years ago," I trust that statement because I know his flavor preference, AND I know that he's tried more than one "sample" of the given whiskey (wich immediately disproves the theory that reviewers are full of crap because they all have tried only the one sample that the distillery sent them.)

Additionally, if you've read Bourbon, Straight, than you know that Chuck's reviews are fairly devoid of "this is terrible whiskey" and "this is great whiskey." he clearly and concisely states that perhaps his favorite whiskey ever, is Very Old Fitz, and when he reviews other whiskeys, he simply describes them and talks about value. Quite frankly, exactly the kind of review that some of you really want (which is why you read all the threads on this site in the first place, to get an idea of the "vaule" of a whiskey from a group of people you consider your peers and trust.)

Originally Posted by SMOWK

I like to save up the charred bits in the bottom of the unfiltered stuff. When I have enough, I pour milk on it and eat it.

Re: Do reviewers get honey barrels?

But SERIOUSLY, we could test this, using the latest EWSB as the example. Find out which barrels the reviewers reviewed, and locate a bottle from that barrel. I doubt that Hansell and Murray and whoeever else all got the same barrel, right? Review those barrels in comparison to a handful of others, and see what the results are. or better yet, convince John or Jim to do it. It would be interesting: garner an average rating for the whiskey based upon the bell curve itself.

Originally Posted by SMOWK

I like to save up the charred bits in the bottom of the unfiltered stuff. When I have enough, I pour milk on it and eat it.